1. State Parks and Other State Areas, Primarily
Recreational.State parks or related areas established primarily
for recreation, ranging in extent from a fraction of an acre to more
than 2,000,000 acres, have been established in all but two States. In
January 1939, according to figures gathered by the National Park
Service, there were 1,397 of these properties, containing a total of
4,342,863 acres, It should be noted that this figure includes the
Adirondack and Catskill Parks in New York State. Reference is made to
this fact for the reason that these two properties, of which the
Adirondack is larger than any other State park in the United States, are
frequently included in State forest totals. However, they are used
primarily for recreation, and are in fact subject to much more stringent
restrictions as to cutting of trees and building of roads and
structuresset by the State constitutionthan are most State
parks.

The properties included in this total are variously
designated as parks, monuments, recreational reserves, parkways,
historic sites, memorials, and waysides. Each of these terms is subject
to wide variation in meaning in the different States, several of which
use the designation "park" for recreational and cultural holdings of all
sorts. One result of failure to distinguish between the several types of
property included in State recreational systems is the tendency to place
certain types of development on areas not suitable for them.

Among the different States there are very great
variations in the relative adequacy of these State systems. None is as
yet fully adequatenot even in New York where the ratio between
attendance and population is probably the highest for any State. In
numerous States, particularly in the South, this ratio is very low. This
condition is due to a combination of several factors, of which the most
important are relative inadequacy of areas, unscientific distribution of
areas, incomplete development, andagain largely in the Souththe
newness of the State park idea and consequent lack of public knowledge
of what such areas have to offer.

It is estimated that attendance at State parks,
monuments, etc., in 38 States during 1938 totaled 70,000,000 persons,
with a probable total attendance for all States of approximately
75,000,000.

2. State Forests.The United States Forest Service
reports, as of 1935,1 a total State-owned forest acreage
of 15,780,160a figure which includes the Adirondack and Catskill
Parks, but not other forested parks. Much of this, however, is simply in
State ownership particularly in some Western States which possess
extensive Federal land grantswithout being under such organized
and perfected administration as is characteristic of State forest
management in such States as Pennsylvania or Connecticut, for
example.

1 Forest Land Resources, Requirements, Problems and
Policy, Part VIII of Supplementary Report of the Land Planning Committee
to the National Resources Board, 1935.

Though established for other primary purposes, State
forests make a contribution to outdoor recreation of considerable
volume and importance, varyingly coordinated with other State
recreational facilities such as State parks. Pennsylvania's State
forests, more than 1,650,000 acres in extent, provide inhabitants of the
Keystone State with almost their only opportunity for what are sometimes
referred to as extensive types of recreation. Some portions of
them are almost certainly worthy of delimitation as State parks, with
the special type of development and administration suited to parks. In
Massachusetts, much of the 171,000 acres in State forests is most
valuable for recreation and is being extensively developed for it.
Thought is being given in the Bay State to the advisability of
delimitations and changes in classification, such as seem to be
advisable in Pennsylvania, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut,
Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota are other
States with State forests administratively organized and which are
utilized to a considerable extent for recreation.

Though 42 States are shown as owners of forest lands,
only in relatively few of them, as indicated above, do they make an
appreciable contribution to recreation requirements.

3. State Wildlife Areas.Though in the aggregate
there is a considerable acreage of State holdings in the form of public
shooting grounds, game and other wildlife refuges, preserves and sanctuaries,
game farms, fish hatcheries, etc., established primarily for one
or more of those purposes, recreational use of them is a minor factor
by comparison with State parks or State forests. Their contribution to
recreation a variable but important one is rather that of improving
hunting and fishing on other lands, public and private.